Eberron - The story so far
Back to Main Page: Session 1: We need a job In the middle districts of Sharn the local forger and general sneak Slinker caught word of a noble from the upper spire in need a group of willing people to do dangerous work for plenty of money. He already knew the Monk that everybody called Fogg because he acquired papers for him to get in to the city and the Dragonmarked Wizard Ethel. She in turn roped in her friend Wroen, a mysterious changeling. He picked the largest slab of muscle he could find. A Half-Orc soldier he knew by the name of Krusk. Finally they dragged the gnome performer out of the corner where he was performing for food and set off at a race to reach the mansion in the upper part of the city in time. However as they fled through the Seventh Tower District of the upper wards, past closed book shops, cafes and art galleries they stumbled across a very dead dwarf in scholars robes, with a bag and a journal clutched in his dead hands. A shadowy figure fled the scene but then doubled back demanding the journal of the dead researcher, revealing herself to be a shifter. Unwilling to give it, they came to blows until eventually the gnome proved his worth by putting her to sleep. However the commotion and a dead body in the busy part of the town had attracted the watch and they wanted everybody to come quietly back to the station to sort this out. The group were in a hurry to reach their appointment however and whilst Krusk bulldozed his way to freedom and Slinker lived up to his name (absconding with the journal among other things), vanishing in to the shadows, the other four decided to resist to varying degrees. Ethel initially was cuffed by a guard, but after attempts to seduce him failed she stabbed him. Biwpnottin decided to put some of the guards to sleep but soon enough more converged on their location. They were eventually apprehended and dragged off to the cells. Ethel was saved by her family connections, Fogg and Wroen hadn't actually involved themselves in the fight with the guards and so were free to go after answering some questions, which left all the blame on the entertainer Biwpnottin. He was approached in his cell by a dragonmarked human woman named Elaydren d'Cannith wearing expensive clothes. She offered to bail him out and pay him and his friends a tidy sum if he would retrieve an adamantine plaque from the oldest ruins of the city. Seeing little choice he agreed and they met up a short distance from the watch house. A map tucked in to the journal showed a plan of the city and indicated that the entrance to the secret workshop was behind valve cluster E-312. Negotiating with a goblin merchant selling junk and minor trinkets he guided them to the valve cluster. However it was a trap. A warforged and two shifter mercenaries were waiting for them. They struck from hiding and tried to use the sewer valves against the group, but were quickly overpowered. Before he passed, a small orb grew from the Warforged's body and flew away. Wroen and Ethel sent their Raven and Bat familiars (respectively) after the orb, but its mechanism was very strong and they were unable to stop it. Session 2: The Forgotten Forge They went back to inspecting the Valve cluster that they were searching for and found a concealled door already opened. They also came across a young elf druid who was searching the area for answers of her own. Inside there was a large metal hatch with a glowing rune in the center. Not sure how to open it, Slinker held the book up to the lock to compare the rune which appeared identical and the hatch swung open. Beyond it was a vertical shaft and they used Fogg's rope to get down with only a few people slipping. It levelled out in to a large coridoor and eventually led to a vast chamber with several ruined structures inside it. Exhausted from the fight and the climb they settled down for a rest, but the keen eyed among them spotted tiny burrowing holes in the ground. Soon a huge swarm of hungry carnivorous beetles emerged. Thankfully Agnes the Druid threw down her lunch which the beetles rapidly stripped to the bone. Giving everybody else time to deal with the threat. Ethel used fire to burn the majority of the swarm and it broke apart in to nothing more than a handful of harmless bugs. They did eventually rest properly and with some scouting detected a potential threat which they moved around. Once they had done that, they came across a former temple to the god of artifice Onatar, which had sadly been stripped bare. Finally they found the building that seemed to be the object of their quest, but it was still intact and well guarded with another magically locked door. Searching and investigation proved fruitless until Krusk, curiously went around the back where a pile of rubble led up to the roof. There the roof had caved in partially, allowing a way inside. They jumped in one at a time before everybody was together and so when metal dogs known as Iron defenders jumped on those who went in, Krusk had to hold out on top of a table until the others could eliminate the dogs of metal and wood. As each died a metal rod popped from the forehead of the dogs. Something that Slinker quickly recognised as a key system. The room contained a wealth of small treasures: *'A nice looking breastplate' *'a pair of long swords' *'3 vials of acid' *'2 sunrods (like torches, but burn twice as bright and last twice as long) ' *'Assorted crafting tools' *'A box on the wall with 2 healing potions' *'5 ingots of iron (worth 2 silver each and weighing 2 pounds), ' *'an old map ' *'A potion (Greater Healing)' *'A wand of Firnian Ash (+1 damage to fire spells)' The forge its self had slots for all three rods but the first time they tried to activate it, the metal gratings shocked everybody. However with some trial and error they unlocked the hidden vault that was there. Inside was a small fortune of items: *'100 silver pieces in a bag (They appear to be a very old design) ' *'2 silver ingots (each worth 100 silver and weighing 2 pounds)' *'1 Ingot of Adamantine (worth 500 silver and weighing 2 pounds)' *'4 metal disks with pictures of birds etched on them. (Feather Tokens)' *'1 potion (Mage Armour)' *'2 scrolls (Mage Armour and Feather Fall)' *'The Adamantine Schema. ' *'Dozens of books that are crumbling to dust.' Now you just need to take the Schema back to the surface to get paid. Session 3: The Clouds Destiny After evaluating their treasure (Slinker managed to get the rods back out) and taking a bit of a breather, Fogg climbed up on to Krusk and got out of the building, only to be struck by a flaming crossbow bolt to the chest. Slinker followed straight afterwards and a condescending voice belonging to a Warforged cried out belittling them and demanding the schema. Ethel and Rowan climbed up and began to rain spells on their enemy to hurt and disorient him whilst Slinker closed the distance. Fogg unfortunately tripped and was slow in reaching Slinker to help. The Warforged named Sabre managed to badly injure them both, but the healing potions from the laboratory managed to keep them up until Fogg struck a pair of devastating blows with his quarterstaff. Sabre was about to flee, but Fogg's shifter heritage took over and he savaged the Warforged with his fangs until he stopped moving. A search of him yielded nothing more than the crossbow, a single bolt and a bag smoke powder for making a quick escape. With their enemy out of the picture they made their way back up to the surface with the schema and their treasures. After a day of relaxation and sleep they met up with their sponsor at the Broken Anvil in a nicer part of the city where she paid the 1000 silver as promised. Although Ethel was unhappy about the mention of her family. After a week of study and improvement they were still happy to hear that, Wroan picked up another message from her. She wanted couriers to escort a shipment to Stormhome in the North. There was not much time and so they took the three crates to the Cloud's Destiny. One on board they met the oddly spartan crew. * 4 Warforged airsailors named Port, Star, Aft and Fore. The two human crew: * Able Airman Ancel Curewright (Human male) * Senior Airman Marie Cutter (Human female) The Airships captain: Atherton Skybreak - An air genasi, with a flamboyant and boisterous attitude. But Ethel suspects that he might not be as knowledgeable about ships as he claims to be. The ships Storm Warden however turned out to be Ariel d’Lyrandar, Ethel's perfect sister, who seemed almost as angry as Ethel that they would be stuck together for three days in close proximity. The rest of the passengers were an equally colourful bunch each in single rooms: * Clarance ir’Cyre (M) - A Human nobleman from the now destroyed kingdom of Cyre. * Dagni Thulebane (F) - Dwarf Merchant * Hura Baker (F) - Half-Orc Veteran Scout * River snowbank (F) - Shifter entertainer * Tyman Summers (M) - Human armourer Sharing the large stateroom: * Whanau o te tutu (M) - Halfling businessman * Tuuni Fellows (F) - Half Orc contracted bodyguard * Dazaar Brick (M) - Half Orc contracted bodyguard In the opening hours of the voyage: * It became clear that the ship was operating only a skeleton crew. * Wroan managed to earn an invitation to dinner from the Crime boss Whanau, who has a pet Clawfoot (Utah raptor) with him. The crimeboss seems equally surprised by the lack of crew. * Slinker came across a crate that seemed to contain movement and intoxicating odours. * Fogg found that Tyman Summers has quite a bad attitude towards Shifters and that he fought in the Last War. * Ethel raged against her sister but made some polite conversation with River, the Shifter who tried to offer her condolences on sibling problems. * Fogg and Slinker unsealed the crates and hid the goods in their beds (Fogg opting to sleep on the floor instead), whilst making an obvious show of moving the boxes to Ethel's cabin. Meanwhile Slinker puts a bag of random items in the cargo hold including his rapier sticking out of it. Two of the boxes contained navigational and optical equipment, whilst the third contained a finely made sword, wands, 2 orbs and a handful of other goods, but they had an anti-tamper seal that they unknowingly broke. Session 4: Cabin service Settling in to the voyage, Fogg, Slinker, Ethel and Krusk Be Expanded / Condense / Formatted * Krusk overhears captain wanting to take us close to mountains for "scenic route", despite the risk of attack when passing an airship close to mountains. * With Fogg stood outside, Slinker breaks into the room of Hura Baker the Half-Orc Veteran Scout. He also breaks into her trunk, to reveal some documents written in Dwarvish, and a spare shortsword. When leaving the room, Hura comes back to the room and catches Slinker red-handed, with a lapse in Foggs attention meaning she wasn't noticed. Slinker quickly tries to explain that he saw a rat, and Fogg concurred, but Hura isn't convinced, and takes Slinker by the scruff of the neck to the captain. On their way, they come across Krusk, who tries with all his charm to convince the fellow Half-Orc otherwise, but it isn't enough, and she proceeds to the captain's quarters. She hammers down on the door, rudely interrupting Ethel and the Captain's intimate alone time, much to the dismay of them both. * Upon speaking with the captain, Slinker comes clean with the truth of why he broke into the room. The captain, admitting the lack of staff, punishes Slinker to work as crew for the remainder of the voyage, under the supervision of Senior Airman Marie Cutter. He was warned that any other offences will result in the less-lenient punishment of being tossed overboard.He is quickly put to work in the Crow's nest, above the ring of fire. In the meanwhile, the rest of the party returns to the bar, aside from Fogg, who heads back to the room with the items, seeing River leaving her room for the bar as he heads back. ** Fogg has a brief conversation with River, where he notices she seems rather vacant and cold towards him, like they've not seen each other before. Fogg is a little wary of this, so quietly heads back to the bar to warn Krusk and Ethel to keep an eye on her, before heading back to the room. On his way back, he notices some scrabbling noises from a box of cargo, upon investigating, Fogg is overcome with a euphoric sensation as Slinker was earlier, coming from a box containing unknown live animals. He then heads back to the room. ** While this is happening, Krusk and Ethel are still in the bar, discussing the ship's course deviation, and the dangers it poses to our safety, while keeping an eye on River. * As suddenly as that happens, Fogg hears a sudden '''Thud '''come from the main deck above, followed by scuffling. The ringing of a bell starts, heard by the rest of the party in the bar, before a call to arms is made. Ethel leaps to the upper deck while Krusk bounds to the room to warn Fogg of the danger. * When Ethel arrives on the upper deck, she is presented by a trio of Harpies that have made their way on board, totally unbeknownst to Slinker (who was acting lookout). Two of them are nearby, while another is on the other side of the deck, being handled by the crew and fellow passengers. Ethel then tries to speak to one of the nearby Harpies, but as she does, it proceeds to pitch Able Airman Ancel Curewright overboard, then fiercely growl at her. * Realising the danger, Ethel fights back hard, immediately hitting two of the Harpies with her Thunderwave spell. One of them responds by trying unsuccessfully to charm her. Ethel attacks again, badly scorching one of the Harpies with a firebolt, causing it back away slightly. Slinker seizes the opportunity to attack the injured Harpy, dealing a quick blow with his dagger. The Harpy, knowing the danger, takes a chance and tries to charm Slinker, but is also unsuccessful in its attempt. At this point, the Harpies fight back once again, one totally misses a strike on Ethel, but another lands a devastating blow against Slinker, injuring him badly. Ethel retaliates by casting burning hands, further burning the injured Harpy, and narrowly avoiding the other. Once again, Slinker deals a blow with his dagger, forcing the Harpy to retreat. At this point, the Harpies know they're outmatched, and two quickly scarper. The third goes to do the same, but not before making a half-assed attempt at grappling Ethel in its talons unsuccessfully, before joining the other two as they fly away. * While all of this is going on, Fogg and Krusk are still below deck, discussing the situation with the captain, and the course of the ship. Fogg also lets slip the situation with the crates being emptied, and the contents hidden, in an attempt to cause a distraction. Krusk, growing ever suspicious of the captain's behaviour, decides he'd like to go and fight him. Krusk goes to find the captain, with Fogg picking up Slinker's bow and arrow quiver left in the room, because locking the door before following suit. Fogg and Krusk make their way to the upper deck, where they catch a glimpse of the Harpies flying away, the battle clearly over. Fogg hands over Slinker's bow and quiver back to him. * Slinker, badly injured from the Harpy attack, makes his way back to the room to rest up and recover. The rest of the party and a few other passengers are on the main deck, with Krusk leading the group towards the captain's quarters for an explanation. While en-route, Senior Airman Marie Cutter confirms the loss of two crew - the human known as Ancel Curewright, and the warforged known as Port. ** In the group is Ariel and the halfling with his bodyguards and pet raptor. Krusk goes to pet the velociraptor, which lashes out suddenly, savaging Krusk's arm, greatly hurting him. The halfling advises that the raptor doesn't like to be touched. Fogg, undetermined by this, retorts that even raptors can be friendly to strangers if you know how to handle them. Fogg goes to pet the raptor, and quickly pulls his arm away, avoiding the raptors sharp teeth as it lunges to bite. * The group arrives at the Captain's quarters, knocking on the door to get his attention. They quiz him why he changed course, and he admits it was to provide a more scenic route, much to the annoyance of Ariel and others. They all speak up, letting their thoughts on the Captain's poor choices be known. To try and calms matters, the captain offers Ethel the position of Boatswain for an additional payment. to be added later, details include: ** Slinker breaking into captain's quarters, and getting caught (again). ** Discovering that Tyman Summers is a lycan. ** Krusk and Slinker breaking down the door to River's room, due to hearing noises of another person inside. River shifts and lashes out at them. ** Fogg discovers the animals from the cargo are Faerie dragons, which are illegal to be exported from Sharn. Fogg knows this, and coerces the Captain and the merchant exporting them to gift Ethel a dragon free of charge, and discount another for Fogg to keep, in exchange to their silence of exporting the remaining dragons. [[The Shadow of War - An Eberron campaign|Back to Main Page]: